According to the interest theory of rights, the primary function of rights is the protection of fundamental interests. Since children undeniably have fundamental interests that merit protection, it ...
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According to the interest theory of rights, the primary function of rights is the protection of fundamental interests. Since children undeniably have fundamental interests that merit protection, it is perfectly sensible to attribute rights, especially welfare rights, to them. The interest theory need not be hostile to the accommodation of rights that protect agency because, at least in the case of adults, there is a strong connection between the protection of agency and the promotion of welfare. Children have welfare rights similar to those of adults. But children lack the agency rights adults have because children initially lack and only gradually develop the kinds of capacities for agency that are necessary for agency rights. Children's rights to culture, religion, and free expression are ill‐conceived.Less

What Rights (If Any) Do Children Have?

Harry Brighouse

Published in print: 2002-06-20

According to the interest theory of rights, the primary function of rights is the protection of fundamental interests. Since children undeniably have fundamental interests that merit protection, it is perfectly sensible to attribute rights, especially welfare rights, to them. The interest theory need not be hostile to the accommodation of rights that protect agency because, at least in the case of adults, there is a strong connection between the protection of agency and the promotion of welfare. Children have welfare rights similar to those of adults. But children lack the agency rights adults have because children initially lack and only gradually develop the kinds of capacities for agency that are necessary for agency rights. Children's rights to culture, religion, and free expression are ill‐conceived.

This book examines welfare-to-work programmes in the United States and Britain, and develops a normative perspective to analyse and critique the theoretical and doctrinal justifications for ...
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This book examines welfare-to-work programmes in the United States and Britain, and develops a normative perspective to analyse and critique the theoretical and doctrinal justifications for welfare-to-work programmes. The book sheds light on the contractual paradigm that is advanced both as a new interpretation of citizenship, and as a jurisprudential mold for the configuration of the relationship between rights and responsibilities. Viewing rights as demanding responsibilities carries the threat that rights will lose their strategic role in practical reasoning. When this conceptualization is couched in social contract rhetoric that implies a continuous contract between citizens and the state, many conditions on welfare are supposedly legitimated. These include workfare, the obligation to accept any job offer, and several moral and social preconditions, based on a vague notion of reciprocity. This phenomenon has exacerbated over the last decade in social discourse in general, and in the field of welfare unemployment in particular. Following a critique of the prominence of the contractual conceptualization, the book suggests a structure of legitimate conditions on welfare benefits. This takes account of the contemporary appeal of personal responsibility, and reconciles it with the traditional fidelity that is owed to equality in the welfare state ideal. It is shown that equality's concern for the worst-off supports a recognition of a strong legal right to welfare. It concludes by showing that rather than undermining social inclusion and labour market integration, strengthening welfare rights and relaxing preconditions on entitlement would serve the very objectives that welfare-to-work programmes are supposed to advance.Less

Welfare to Work : Conditional Rights in Social Policy

Amir Paz-Fuchs

Published in print: 2008-02-14

This book examines welfare-to-work programmes in the United States and Britain, and develops a normative perspective to analyse and critique the theoretical and doctrinal justifications for welfare-to-work programmes. The book sheds light on the contractual paradigm that is advanced both as a new interpretation of citizenship, and as a jurisprudential mold for the configuration of the relationship between rights and responsibilities. Viewing rights as demanding responsibilities carries the threat that rights will lose their strategic role in practical reasoning. When this conceptualization is couched in social contract rhetoric that implies a continuous contract between citizens and the state, many conditions on welfare are supposedly legitimated. These include workfare, the obligation to accept any job offer, and several moral and social preconditions, based on a vague notion of reciprocity. This phenomenon has exacerbated over the last decade in social discourse in general, and in the field of welfare unemployment in particular. Following a critique of the prominence of the contractual conceptualization, the book suggests a structure of legitimate conditions on welfare benefits. This takes account of the contemporary appeal of personal responsibility, and reconciles it with the traditional fidelity that is owed to equality in the welfare state ideal. It is shown that equality's concern for the worst-off supports a recognition of a strong legal right to welfare. It concludes by showing that rather than undermining social inclusion and labour market integration, strengthening welfare rights and relaxing preconditions on entitlement would serve the very objectives that welfare-to-work programmes are supposed to advance.

This chapter discusses welfare rights. Topics covered include the historical growth of rights, welfare as a civil or human right, the case for a human right to welfare; and human rights, legal ...
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This chapter discusses welfare rights. Topics covered include the historical growth of rights, welfare as a civil or human right, the case for a human right to welfare; and human rights, legal rights, and rights in the United Nations.Less

Welfare

James Griffin

Published in print: 2008-02-01

This chapter discusses welfare rights. Topics covered include the historical growth of rights, welfare as a civil or human right, the case for a human right to welfare; and human rights, legal rights, and rights in the United Nations.

This chapter applies the approach developed in this book to familiar topics of socio-economic rights, focussing on housing, education, and welfare, and drawing on comparative experience in selected ...
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This chapter applies the approach developed in this book to familiar topics of socio-economic rights, focussing on housing, education, and welfare, and drawing on comparative experience in selected jurisdictions. In each case, it considers how the infusion of values of positive freedom, solidarity, and equality opens up the possibility of recognizing positive duties even in relation to civil and political rights. The interaction between positive and negative duties is then considered: for example, the duty not to evict unlawfully is closely related to a duty to provide housing in the context of severe housing shortages, as in South Africa or India. The chapter then examines how the content of the positive duty can be ascertained; and the role of the minimum core. The role of courts in insisting on accountability, equality of participation and enhanced deliberative democracy is then evaluated. Finally, non-judicial compliance mechanisms are considered.Less

Socio-economic Rights and Positive Duties

Sandra Fredman

Published in print: 2008-03-06

This chapter applies the approach developed in this book to familiar topics of socio-economic rights, focussing on housing, education, and welfare, and drawing on comparative experience in selected jurisdictions. In each case, it considers how the infusion of values of positive freedom, solidarity, and equality opens up the possibility of recognizing positive duties even in relation to civil and political rights. The interaction between positive and negative duties is then considered: for example, the duty not to evict unlawfully is closely related to a duty to provide housing in the context of severe housing shortages, as in South Africa or India. The chapter then examines how the content of the positive duty can be ascertained; and the role of the minimum core. The role of courts in insisting on accountability, equality of participation and enhanced deliberative democracy is then evaluated. Finally, non-judicial compliance mechanisms are considered.

This chapter addresses the philosophical and legal tension between two concepts: reciprocity and equality. Reciprocity governs the approach behind welfare-to-work programmes, from the political ...
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This chapter addresses the philosophical and legal tension between two concepts: reciprocity and equality. Reciprocity governs the approach behind welfare-to-work programmes, from the political philosophy to the practical interactions between government agencies and welfare claimants. It is often seen to support a conception of fairness that places government duties as contingent upon the fulfillment of personal obligations. In contrast, egalitarians are perceived as emphasizing society's duties which are justifiable notwithstanding the individual's failure to take responsibility for her own life choices. This chapter argues that egalitarianism is often seen as opposed to reciprocity because of the different attitude that each expresses towards the idea of personal responsibility. It outlines contemporary efforts to reconcile reciprocity, equality, and personal responsibility, and finds them wanting. It then suggests a different model than the one offered by contemporary egalitarian writers; one, it is argued, that fulfills their objectives better than their own proposals.Less

From Equality to the Right to Welfare

Amir Paz-Fuchs

Published in print: 2008-02-14

This chapter addresses the philosophical and legal tension between two concepts: reciprocity and equality. Reciprocity governs the approach behind welfare-to-work programmes, from the political philosophy to the practical interactions between government agencies and welfare claimants. It is often seen to support a conception of fairness that places government duties as contingent upon the fulfillment of personal obligations. In contrast, egalitarians are perceived as emphasizing society's duties which are justifiable notwithstanding the individual's failure to take responsibility for her own life choices. This chapter argues that egalitarianism is often seen as opposed to reciprocity because of the different attitude that each expresses towards the idea of personal responsibility. It outlines contemporary efforts to reconcile reciprocity, equality, and personal responsibility, and finds them wanting. It then suggests a different model than the one offered by contemporary egalitarian writers; one, it is argued, that fulfills their objectives better than their own proposals.

This chapter shows that amid the aspirations of the Great Society, the expectation that non-elderly welfare recipients should seek wage work became hitched to the demands of older Americans for care. ...
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This chapter shows that amid the aspirations of the Great Society, the expectation that non-elderly welfare recipients should seek wage work became hitched to the demands of older Americans for care. Home care became a jobs program on the cheap. Senior activists won the Older Americans Act and Medicare. But rather than a middle-class entitlement, long-term care became more tightly identified with welfare when Medicaid turned into the chief means to obtain such services. Through manpower training and “New Careers,” the War on Poverty made AFDC recipients into home aides: poor mothers could become rehabilitated by caring for other poor, dependent, or incapacitated people. But civil rights, seniors, public sector unions, and welfare rights activists challenged the state over the nature and extent of social assistance. Their struggles would reshape home care again, this time through confrontations between state governors and county welfare offices; public sector unions and government employers; welfare mothers and mayors. This history illuminates the shift in the aim of the welfare state from providing security to the ending of dependency.Less

Caring for the Great Society

Eileen BorisJennifer Klein

Published in print: 2012-04-11

This chapter shows that amid the aspirations of the Great Society, the expectation that non-elderly welfare recipients should seek wage work became hitched to the demands of older Americans for care. Home care became a jobs program on the cheap. Senior activists won the Older Americans Act and Medicare. But rather than a middle-class entitlement, long-term care became more tightly identified with welfare when Medicaid turned into the chief means to obtain such services. Through manpower training and “New Careers,” the War on Poverty made AFDC recipients into home aides: poor mothers could become rehabilitated by caring for other poor, dependent, or incapacitated people. But civil rights, seniors, public sector unions, and welfare rights activists challenged the state over the nature and extent of social assistance. Their struggles would reshape home care again, this time through confrontations between state governors and county welfare offices; public sector unions and government employers; welfare mothers and mayors. This history illuminates the shift in the aim of the welfare state from providing security to the ending of dependency.

This chapter introduces the significant potential that social inclusion discourse holds for the analysis of welfare-to-work programmes. The roots of social inclusion discourse include a serious ...
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This chapter introduces the significant potential that social inclusion discourse holds for the analysis of welfare-to-work programmes. The roots of social inclusion discourse include a serious regard for equality as well as for personal choice, and express the fluidity and flexibility that takes into account agency as well as structure. This explains why social inclusion is mentioned as a central motivation for welfare-to-work programmes. The problem with the move from the promise of social inclusion policies to the practice of welfare-to-work programmes is the quick analogy made between labour market inclusion and social inclusion. Coercive inclusion into the workforce may result not only in social exclusion, but even in exclusion within the labour market. But understood properly, social inclusion manifests the practical meaning of the imperative that requires treating every person with equal concern and respect and ties together the issues that were discussed throughout this book.Less

Welfare, Work and Social Inclusion

Amir Paz-Fuchs

Published in print: 2008-02-14

This chapter introduces the significant potential that social inclusion discourse holds for the analysis of welfare-to-work programmes. The roots of social inclusion discourse include a serious regard for equality as well as for personal choice, and express the fluidity and flexibility that takes into account agency as well as structure. This explains why social inclusion is mentioned as a central motivation for welfare-to-work programmes. The problem with the move from the promise of social inclusion policies to the practice of welfare-to-work programmes is the quick analogy made between labour market inclusion and social inclusion. Coercive inclusion into the workforce may result not only in social exclusion, but even in exclusion within the labour market. But understood properly, social inclusion manifests the practical meaning of the imperative that requires treating every person with equal concern and respect and ties together the issues that were discussed throughout this book.

What is a human right? How can we tell whether a proposed human right really is one? How do we establish the content of particular human rights, and how do we resolve conflicts between them? These ...
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What is a human right? How can we tell whether a proposed human right really is one? How do we establish the content of particular human rights, and how do we resolve conflicts between them? These are pressing questions for philosophers, political theorists, jurisprudents, international lawyers, and activists. This book offers answers in its investigation of human rights. The term ‘natural right’, in its modern sense of an entitlement that a person has, first appeared in the late Middle Ages. When during the 17th and 18th centuries the theological content of the idea was abandoned in stages, nothing was put in its place. The secularized notion that we were left with at the end of the Enlightenment is still our notion today: a right that we have simply in virtue of being human. During the 20th century, international law has contributed to settling the question of which rights are human rights, but its contribution has its limits. The notion of a human right that we have inherited suffers from no small indeterminateness of sense. The term has been left with so few criteria for determining when it is used correctly that we often have a plainly inadequate grasp on what is at issue. This book takes on the task of showing the way towards a determinate concept of human rights, based on their relation to the human status that we all share. The book works from certain paradigm cases, such as freedom of expression and freedom of worship, to more disputed cases such as welfare right — for instance the idea of a human right to health. The goal is a substantive account of human rights; an account with enough content to tell us whether proposed rights really are rights. The book emphasizes the practical as well as theoretical urgency of this goal: as the United Nations recognized in 1948 with its Universal Declaration, the idea of human rights has considerable power to improve the lot of humanity around the world.Less

On Human Rights

James Griffin

Published in print: 2008-02-01

What is a human right? How can we tell whether a proposed human right really is one? How do we establish the content of particular human rights, and how do we resolve conflicts between them? These are pressing questions for philosophers, political theorists, jurisprudents, international lawyers, and activists. This book offers answers in its investigation of human rights. The term ‘natural right’, in its modern sense of an entitlement that a person has, first appeared in the late Middle Ages. When during the 17th and 18th centuries the theological content of the idea was abandoned in stages, nothing was put in its place. The secularized notion that we were left with at the end of the Enlightenment is still our notion today: a right that we have simply in virtue of being human. During the 20th century, international law has contributed to settling the question of which rights are human rights, but its contribution has its limits. The notion of a human right that we have inherited suffers from no small indeterminateness of sense. The term has been left with so few criteria for determining when it is used correctly that we often have a plainly inadequate grasp on what is at issue. This book takes on the task of showing the way towards a determinate concept of human rights, based on their relation to the human status that we all share. The book works from certain paradigm cases, such as freedom of expression and freedom of worship, to more disputed cases such as welfare right — for instance the idea of a human right to health. The goal is a substantive account of human rights; an account with enough content to tell us whether proposed rights really are rights. The book emphasizes the practical as well as theoretical urgency of this goal: as the United Nations recognized in 1948 with its Universal Declaration, the idea of human rights has considerable power to improve the lot of humanity around the world.

This book explores the extent to which rights to welfare are related to human inter-dependency on the one hand and the ethics of responsibility on the other. Its intention is to kick-start a fresh ...
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This book explores the extent to which rights to welfare are related to human inter-dependency on the one hand and the ethics of responsibility on the other. Its intention is to kick-start a fresh debate about the moral foundations of social policy and welfare reform. The book explores the concepts of dependency, responsibility, rights, and their significance for social citizenship; draws together findings from a range of recent research that has investigated popular political welfare provider and welfare user discourses; discusses, in a UK context, the relevance of the recent Human Rights Act for social policy, and presents arguments in favour of a human rights based approach to social welfare.Less

The ethics of welfare : Human rights, dependency and responsibility

Published in print: 2004-03-24

This book explores the extent to which rights to welfare are related to human inter-dependency on the one hand and the ethics of responsibility on the other. Its intention is to kick-start a fresh debate about the moral foundations of social policy and welfare reform. The book explores the concepts of dependency, responsibility, rights, and their significance for social citizenship; draws together findings from a range of recent research that has investigated popular political welfare provider and welfare user discourses; discusses, in a UK context, the relevance of the recent Human Rights Act for social policy, and presents arguments in favour of a human rights based approach to social welfare.

The British government is currently committed to radical reform of the welfare system underpinning social citizenship in the country. Welfare rights and responsibilities are a response to this, ...
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The British government is currently committed to radical reform of the welfare system underpinning social citizenship in the country. Welfare rights and responsibilities are a response to this, focusing on welfare reform and citizenship. Three issues are central to citizenship's social element: provision, membership, and the link between welfare rights and responsibilities (conditionality). Part 1 of the book discusses competing philosophical, political, and academic perspectives on citizenship and welfare. Part 2 then moves discussions about social citizenship away from the purely theoretical level, allowing the practical concerns of citizens (particularly those at the sharp end of public provision) to become an integral part of debates concerning citizenship and welfare. The book gives voice to the ‘ordinary’ citizens who actually make use of welfare services. It offers an accessible overview of contemporary debates about the contested concepts of citizenship and welfare, linking them to recent developments and discussions about the new welfare settlement and values that underpin it. The book also combines relevant debates within political philosophy, social policy, and sociology that relate to social citizenship with recent policy developments.Less

Welfare rights and responsibilities : Contesting social citizenship

Peter Dwyer

Published in print: 2000-09-27

The British government is currently committed to radical reform of the welfare system underpinning social citizenship in the country. Welfare rights and responsibilities are a response to this, focusing on welfare reform and citizenship. Three issues are central to citizenship's social element: provision, membership, and the link between welfare rights and responsibilities (conditionality). Part 1 of the book discusses competing philosophical, political, and academic perspectives on citizenship and welfare. Part 2 then moves discussions about social citizenship away from the purely theoretical level, allowing the practical concerns of citizens (particularly those at the sharp end of public provision) to become an integral part of debates concerning citizenship and welfare. The book gives voice to the ‘ordinary’ citizens who actually make use of welfare services. It offers an accessible overview of contemporary debates about the contested concepts of citizenship and welfare, linking them to recent developments and discussions about the new welfare settlement and values that underpin it. The book also combines relevant debates within political philosophy, social policy, and sociology that relate to social citizenship with recent policy developments.

A vast terrain lies between basic, unconditional income policy and some of the conditions incorporated in modern welfare-to-work programmes. The purpose of this book is to assess the fairness of ...
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A vast terrain lies between basic, unconditional income policy and some of the conditions incorporated in modern welfare-to-work programmes. The purpose of this book is to assess the fairness of these conditions in light of background justifications, and to question whether the results of a policy that advances such conditions will be equitable. The book concludes by showing that rather than undermining social inclusion and labour market integration, strengthening welfare rights and relaxing preconditions on entitlement would serve the very objectives that welfare-to-work programmes are supposed to advance.Less

Conclusion

Amir Paz-Fuchs

Published in print: 2008-02-14

A vast terrain lies between basic, unconditional income policy and some of the conditions incorporated in modern welfare-to-work programmes. The purpose of this book is to assess the fairness of these conditions in light of background justifications, and to question whether the results of a policy that advances such conditions will be equitable. The book concludes by showing that rather than undermining social inclusion and labour market integration, strengthening welfare rights and relaxing preconditions on entitlement would serve the very objectives that welfare-to-work programmes are supposed to advance.

This chapter presents comparative evidence of the lack of correlation between variations in court-based human rights protection for social welfare rights and the reality of welfare provisions in ...
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This chapter presents comparative evidence of the lack of correlation between variations in court-based human rights protection for social welfare rights and the reality of welfare provisions in different countries. The extensive research done on the empirical relation between levels of welfare provision and various non-judicial factors is brought to bear on assessing the relationship between constitutional rights and their impact on inequality. The chapter examines the causal links between constitutional protection and the political salience of socio-economic inequality, poverty, and/or labour unions and other leftists forces and constituencies in a given polity; regional and international political economy factors that explain the expansion or shrinkage of public economy; the political context for ‘aspirational’ statements at the time of constitutionalization; levels of extra-constitutional commitment to, and existence of, a well developed welfare regime (Keynesian, Marxist-socialist, or otherwise) in that polity; attempts by courts to expand the ambit of their influence by acting when elected official will not; and the net effect of constitutionalization or of its prevalent modes of interpretation on the actual realization of welfare rights.Less

Constitutional Law Meets Comparative Politics: Socio-economic Rights and Political Realities

Evan RosevearRan Hirschl

Published in print: 2011-02-24

This chapter presents comparative evidence of the lack of correlation between variations in court-based human rights protection for social welfare rights and the reality of welfare provisions in different countries. The extensive research done on the empirical relation between levels of welfare provision and various non-judicial factors is brought to bear on assessing the relationship between constitutional rights and their impact on inequality. The chapter examines the causal links between constitutional protection and the political salience of socio-economic inequality, poverty, and/or labour unions and other leftists forces and constituencies in a given polity; regional and international political economy factors that explain the expansion or shrinkage of public economy; the political context for ‘aspirational’ statements at the time of constitutionalization; levels of extra-constitutional commitment to, and existence of, a well developed welfare regime (Keynesian, Marxist-socialist, or otherwise) in that polity; attempts by courts to expand the ambit of their influence by acting when elected official will not; and the net effect of constitutionalization or of its prevalent modes of interpretation on the actual realization of welfare rights.

Reflecting the normative significance of specific features of intergenerational relations this chapter investigates the justice claims of future people vis-à-vis currently living people. It discusses ...
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Reflecting the normative significance of specific features of intergenerational relations this chapter investigates the justice claims of future people vis-à-vis currently living people. It discusses sufficientarian and egalitarian conceptions of justice, and argues that a sufficientarian approach is appropriate in the intergenerational context. This conclusion is based, first, on the argument that by relying on a threshold conception of harm we can solve the non-identity problem and that there are good reasons to specify the relevant threshold in sufficientarian terms. Second, it is based upon an examination of reasons given for a sufficientarian understanding of global justice. These reasons are shown to speak even more strongly for a sufficientarian understanding of intergenerational justice.Less

Enough for the Future

Lukas H. MeyerDominic Roser

Published in print: 2009-05-21

Reflecting the normative significance of specific features of intergenerational relations this chapter investigates the justice claims of future people vis-à-vis currently living people. It discusses sufficientarian and egalitarian conceptions of justice, and argues that a sufficientarian approach is appropriate in the intergenerational context. This conclusion is based, first, on the argument that by relying on a threshold conception of harm we can solve the non-identity problem and that there are good reasons to specify the relevant threshold in sufficientarian terms. Second, it is based upon an examination of reasons given for a sufficientarian understanding of global justice. These reasons are shown to speak even more strongly for a sufficientarian understanding of intergenerational justice.

This chapter discusses the conception of public reason underlying the egalitarian constitutional paradigm. That conception is mutual concern by all citizens for their success in leading lives of ...
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This chapter discusses the conception of public reason underlying the egalitarian constitutional paradigm. That conception is mutual concern by all citizens for their success in leading lives of self-authorship and self-rule. It explains the ephemeral features of this paradigm (its militancy against nature, its content-neutrality, its exclusion of particular interests from the public sphere) as overreactions to the downfall of the pre-modern and libertarian constitutions. It also explains how egalitarian public reason generates the durable idea of freedom-based goods capable of overriding liberty rights as well as a duty to entrench the common-law constitution in a written supreme law interpreted by a judiciary. Finally, the chapter argues for the justiciability of welfare rights.Less

The Egalitarian Principle of Fundamental Justice

ALAN BRUDNER

Published in print: 2007-03-29

This chapter discusses the conception of public reason underlying the egalitarian constitutional paradigm. That conception is mutual concern by all citizens for their success in leading lives of self-authorship and self-rule. It explains the ephemeral features of this paradigm (its militancy against nature, its content-neutrality, its exclusion of particular interests from the public sphere) as overreactions to the downfall of the pre-modern and libertarian constitutions. It also explains how egalitarian public reason generates the durable idea of freedom-based goods capable of overriding liberty rights as well as a duty to entrench the common-law constitution in a written supreme law interpreted by a judiciary. Finally, the chapter argues for the justiciability of welfare rights.

This chapter details how William Brennan, from the time of the decisions in Camp and Barlow in 1970 until his retirement in 1990, lost the vast majority of battles he fought in the standing and other ...
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This chapter details how William Brennan, from the time of the decisions in Camp and Barlow in 1970 until his retirement in 1990, lost the vast majority of battles he fought in the standing and other justiciability cases. The subject matter of those cases ranged from the environment, through welfare rights and the legality of the Vietnam War, to discriminatory police practices and affirmative action in higher education. The tables began to turn on Brennan in Sierra Club v. Morton, a 1972 case involving proposed development in the Mineral King Valley, nestled in the Sierra Nevadas on the California side.Less

The Triumph of Self-Interest

Evan Tsen Lee

Published in print: 2011-01-07

This chapter details how William Brennan, from the time of the decisions in Camp and Barlow in 1970 until his retirement in 1990, lost the vast majority of battles he fought in the standing and other justiciability cases. The subject matter of those cases ranged from the environment, through welfare rights and the legality of the Vietnam War, to discriminatory police practices and affirmative action in higher education. The tables began to turn on Brennan in Sierra Club v. Morton, a 1972 case involving proposed development in the Mineral King Valley, nestled in the Sierra Nevadas on the California side.

This chapter traces the history of welfare policies and welfare politics in the United States, with particular emphasis on the genealogy of the complex, sometimes contradictory, and increasingly ...
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This chapter traces the history of welfare policies and welfare politics in the United States, with particular emphasis on the genealogy of the complex, sometimes contradictory, and increasingly punitive welfare rules and regulations. It begins with an overview of how welfare made the transition from charitable aid to government-sponsored relief before turning to the Social Security Act of 1935 and its early years. It then considers the growth of aid to dependent children before discussing the War on Poverty mobilized by the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson. It also examines the rise of the welfare rights movement and its effects on the welfare system, along with the increase in concerns about welfare cheating and the emergence of the symbol of the welfare queen under the Reagan administration, Finally, it explores welfare reform and the convergence of the welfare and criminal justice systems during the 1990s.Less

Reconstructing Social Ills : From the Perils of Poverty to Welfare Dependency

Kaaryn S. Gustafson

Published in print: 2011-07-25

This chapter traces the history of welfare policies and welfare politics in the United States, with particular emphasis on the genealogy of the complex, sometimes contradictory, and increasingly punitive welfare rules and regulations. It begins with an overview of how welfare made the transition from charitable aid to government-sponsored relief before turning to the Social Security Act of 1935 and its early years. It then considers the growth of aid to dependent children before discussing the War on Poverty mobilized by the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson. It also examines the rise of the welfare rights movement and its effects on the welfare system, along with the increase in concerns about welfare cheating and the emergence of the symbol of the welfare queen under the Reagan administration, Finally, it explores welfare reform and the convergence of the welfare and criminal justice systems during the 1990s.

This chapter addresses future prospects for improving poor mothers’ welfare rights. It argues that to counter the current backlash against welfare mothers, politicians and activists need to offer a ...
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This chapter addresses future prospects for improving poor mothers’ welfare rights. It argues that to counter the current backlash against welfare mothers, politicians and activists need to offer a bold alternative to the current welfare system that will help build solidarity rather than divisions among working-class families. Rising criticism of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in the 1960s and 1970s led to national proposals to replace it with a guaranteed annual income program that would have served both the working poor and the unemployed. The triumph of welfare cutbacks cannot simply be understood in terms of class politics, the rise of neoliberalism, and shifts in the global economy. The New Deal for Working Families would provide paid family leave and expand subsidized child care. Enacting a New Deal for Working Families would require building a strong movement and reframing debates about values, taxes, welfare, and spending.Less

. Rebuilding the Welfare State: Forging a New Deal for Working Families

Ellen Reese

Published in print: 2005-07-29

This chapter addresses future prospects for improving poor mothers’ welfare rights. It argues that to counter the current backlash against welfare mothers, politicians and activists need to offer a bold alternative to the current welfare system that will help build solidarity rather than divisions among working-class families. Rising criticism of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in the 1960s and 1970s led to national proposals to replace it with a guaranteed annual income program that would have served both the working poor and the unemployed. The triumph of welfare cutbacks cannot simply be understood in terms of class politics, the rise of neoliberalism, and shifts in the global economy. The New Deal for Working Families would provide paid family leave and expand subsidized child care. Enacting a New Deal for Working Families would require building a strong movement and reframing debates about values, taxes, welfare, and spending.

The concept of citizenship implies membership of some form of community; in turn, the notion of community opens up questions about terms of inclusion and exclusion. This chapter focuses on the ground ...
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The concept of citizenship implies membership of some form of community; in turn, the notion of community opens up questions about terms of inclusion and exclusion. This chapter focuses on the ground rules that are seen by welfare-service users as being pertinent for individuals to be included in or excluded from arrangements for the collective provision of welfare benefits and services. Throughout the research sessions, it became clear that many users saw certain people as having legitimate claims to welfare, while the claims of others were often seen as invalid. A distinction between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ claims was apparent in the users' dialogue. This was a recurrent and often strongly expressed discourse that was regularly used to justify the inclusion or exclusion of certain people from public welfare. Illustrative examples of the users endorsing either an inclusionary or exclusionary approach (and the strategies that they use to justify their stance) in healthcare, housing, and social security, respectively, are presented. Where relevant, comments about all social provision and welfare rights in general are included.Less

Membership

Peter Dwyer

Published in print: 2000-09-27

The concept of citizenship implies membership of some form of community; in turn, the notion of community opens up questions about terms of inclusion and exclusion. This chapter focuses on the ground rules that are seen by welfare-service users as being pertinent for individuals to be included in or excluded from arrangements for the collective provision of welfare benefits and services. Throughout the research sessions, it became clear that many users saw certain people as having legitimate claims to welfare, while the claims of others were often seen as invalid. A distinction between ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ claims was apparent in the users' dialogue. This was a recurrent and often strongly expressed discourse that was regularly used to justify the inclusion or exclusion of certain people from public welfare. Illustrative examples of the users endorsing either an inclusionary or exclusionary approach (and the strategies that they use to justify their stance) in healthcare, housing, and social security, respectively, are presented. Where relevant, comments about all social provision and welfare rights in general are included.

This concluding chapter assesses the questions with which the book's narrative starts. It analyzes the complex political, legal, and social factors that influenced the way in which early ...
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This concluding chapter assesses the questions with which the book's narrative starts. It analyzes the complex political, legal, and social factors that influenced the way in which early twentieth-century national racial justice organizing developed as it did and assesses the balance between private institution building and demands for full citizenship inclusion that characterized activism during the period, suggesting that activists' work in the intersections of the public/private divide presents an area of legal civil rights history deserving far greater attention. Finally, the conclusion situates the book's narrative within the broader historiography of civil rights activism in the United States.Less

Conclusion

Susan D. Carle

Published in print: 2013-10-31

This concluding chapter assesses the questions with which the book's narrative starts. It analyzes the complex political, legal, and social factors that influenced the way in which early twentieth-century national racial justice organizing developed as it did and assesses the balance between private institution building and demands for full citizenship inclusion that characterized activism during the period, suggesting that activists' work in the intersections of the public/private divide presents an area of legal civil rights history deserving far greater attention. Finally, the conclusion situates the book's narrative within the broader historiography of civil rights activism in the United States.